Recap of the Annual Dodgeball Tournament

The Fay School Dodgeball Tournament, a series of breathtaking games between various teams (including faculty and students), took place Friday, April 7th. Upper School students were excited for one of the most traditional and largest sporting events of the year. Throughout the actual tournament itself, the Fay community witnessed many impressive and entertaining moments. Here at Fay, everyone is still ecstatic about epic comebacks, thrilling catches, throws, and hits between many teams, as well as how the faculty members were also thriving as athletes.

As well as the players themselves, the other students who were cheering for the teams supported the school with spirit. Besides those who spent their dull Friday evening in the lounge or homes, at least a hundred students, both day and boarding, were either playing or cheering for their teams. All of the students showed pride in their teams. Players told the Moosepaper staff that the Dodgeball Tournament provided determined effort and wellness of spirit, which are core values of Fay School. Yeshu Sensenaya ‘19 expressed his positive emotions that the pure sense of joy and fun with his peers made him have a better impression of the school itself; since a dodgeball team always needs to try their best to win against the other teams without cheating, it helps give a sense of earnest effort and encouraging other peers to have the most efficient results of the moment.

Each team was supposed to have eight players playing at a time, with a maximum of two substitute players in one team, which made ten players the maximum amount of people in a team. Though some teams submitted their entries with over twenty players, the problem was resolved by half of the players being cheerleaders in particular games, so that the other teammates would get encouraged by their cheers. Students who were not able to join a team were still able to participate in the tournament by signing up for the free agent team, which was arranged by Mr. Kimball. Furthermore, each team needed to have three of each gender starting each game, so all teams needed a certain amount of boys and girls. Though team shirts were not required, all members of the Asian Vibration team wore the same yellow t-shirts, as well as other teams wearing similar colors of clothing amongst each other. Specific rules were discussed in the theater before the tournament, where Mr. Kimball and Mr. Ceglarski announced that the game time is five minutes, as well as balls that hit above the neck did not qualify as “out.”. However, in the event of a tiebreaker - when there are the same amount of people left from both sides - the team of the first person to get hit lost. Also, those who intentionally blocked the balls with their head would be disqualified for the game, because those players took unfair advantage of the rules.

Although there were no winners for the tournament due to the lack of time, the BGD team and the Faculty team were playing their final match before the end of the tournament. All the other teams tried their best to win against one another, but they eventually lost their two games, and they were out of the tournament. Still, the most vital component of the matches was how they presented an opportunity for many students to bond with their teammates, as well as enjoying a diversity of students from different countries. Besides the Asian Vibration team (Formed by eighth and ninth grade Koreans), the other teams each had players from at least two nationalities, and it was certainly a chance for students to encourage diversity. I talked to Brandon Kim ‘19, who said that though he usually socialized with people from his country before the tournament, the games were an opportunity for him to meet and bond with new friends. The Dodgeball Tournament is always a great annual event, and I am excited for the event to be an ongoing tradition at Fay.

Aaron Chung ‘19